Book Covers Season

Depicting the story

Publishing art directors are on the front line of ensuring the books they design are eye catching and the right fit for readers across a whole range of publishing genres. Alix-Rose Cowie talks to three major book designers on how covers are put together, who has a say in them, the all-important brief and how they find illustrators to commission.

Book cover illustration is some hard-working art. For something we spend hours with - feeling for the last dog-eared page for a few chapters before bed, becoming so engrossed on a Saturday afternoon that the house slowly goes dark around you save for the glow from your Kindle, or finding company in the conversations of fictional characters on a daily commute - a book?s cover has only a fraction of time to call to us from the shelves (or thumbnails) of a shop. And it has a lot to say. Guided by art directors, illustrators working for publishers need to be able to create art that summarises a story into an image, fits into a genre while standing apart, represents a writer, and leaves clues for readers.   

By the time a book is released, many people with different concerns will have weighed in on the cover: from the design team to the marketing department to the author. For Art Director at Faber, Peter Adlington, the story has to be the priority. ?It?s important to be true to the book,? he says. ?The book?s character needs to come through; it?s all about the personality.?

When does illustration fit the brief? 

The very nature of Sci-fi and Fantasy lends itself to illustration, as an author is conjuring an entire world that doesn?t yet exist, imagining what it looks like as much as how it operates in order to write it down. Detailed visual descriptions within the genre help readers to access these otherworldly realms. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Non-Fiction writing isn?t immediately associated with illustration, except of the medical or scientific variety. In the subgenre of nature writing, however, creative illustration is leaving an impression. Working in this genre at Faber, Adlington estimates that 70% of nature books today have an illustrated cover. 

 

Romance novels have a lingering relationship with the steamy Fabio-style covers of the ?80s and ?90s, but the genre is increasingly relying on illustration to tie it to the present. According to Deputy Art Director at HarperCollins, Ellie Game, Romance covers today are largely illustrated. ?I rarely use photography for romance novels at the moment,? she says. ?And I think that?s really a reflection of trends in the market.?

What styles are art directors commissioning? 

?Romance geared to a younger audience, say 20-40 year-olds tends to be a flat-graphic style, bold and really colourful,? Game says. ?Since the success of Emily Henry?s ?You and Me on Vacation?, we?ve seen a rise in demand for quite cool illustrations in zingy colour palettes. For a slightly older market, illustrations tend to be a bit softer and warmer, with more detail. Often they?re depicting idyllic locations, with smaller figures. We often see this style on brand authors like Cressida McLaughlin or Sue Moorcroft.?